'Across every audience, Windows 8 has been downloaded and used by more people than Windows 7 during the same period,' LeBlanc adds, confirming that - if the number of people actually paying to upgrade to Windows 8 is anything like the number of people trying it out for free ahead of its official launch - Microsoft is expecting big things from its next-generation operating system.

Feedback from the trials hasn't been ignored, either: LeBlanc claims that Microsoft has collected around a billion hours of telemetry feedback, a figure collated from all the pre-release editions from the very first previews to the latest Release To Manufacturing (RTM) version.